(a) The plaintiff, cross-complainant, or petitioner may file a motion for reclassification within the time allowed for that party to amend the initial pleading. The defendant or cross-defendant may file a motion for reclassification within the time allowed for that party to respond to the initial pleading. The court, on its own motion, may reclassify a case at any time. A motion for reclassification does not extend the moving party's time to amend or answer or otherwise respond. The court shall grant the motion and enter an order for reclassification, regardless of any fault or lack of fault, if the case has been classified in an incorrect jurisdictional classification.
§ 403.040.Motion For Reclassification
Title 4. Of the Place of Trial, Reclassification, and Coordination of Civil Actions · Chapter 2. Reclassification of Civil Actions and Proceedings · Last amended 2002 · Last verified July 28, 2026
In one sentence§ 403.040 lets any party, or the court on its own, move to reclassify a misclassified case between the limited and unlimited civil tracks, and requires the court to grant a timely motion whenever the classification is wrong, while a late motion also requires a showing of good cause for the delay.
Full Text of § 403.040
(b) If a party files a motion for reclassification after the time for that party to amend that party's initial pleading or to respond to a complaint, cross-complaint, or other initial pleading, the court shall grant the motion and enter an order for reclassification only if both of the following conditions are satisfied:
(1) The case is incorrectly classified.
(2) The moving party shows good cause for not seeking reclassification earlier.
(c) If the court grants a motion for reclassification, the payment of the reclassification fee shall be determined, unless the court orders otherwise, as follows:
(1) If a case is reclassified as an unlimited civil case, the party whose pleading causes the action or proceeding to exceed the maximum amount in controversy for a limited civil case or otherwise fails to satisfy the requirements of a limited civil case under Section 85 shall pay the reclassification fee provided in Section 403.060.
(2) If a case is reclassified as a limited civil case, no reclassification fee is required.
(d) If the court grants an order for reclassification of an action or proceeding pursuant to this section, the reclassification shall proceed as follows:
(1) If the required reclassification fee is paid pursuant to Section 403.060 or no reclassification fee is required, the clerk shall promptly reclassify the case.
(2) An action that has been reclassified pursuant to this section shall not be further prosecuted in any court until the required reclassification fee is paid. If the required reclassification fee has not been paid within five days after service of notice of the order for reclassification, any party interested in the case, regardless of whether that party is named in the complaint, may pay the fee, and the clerk shall promptly reclassify the case as if the fee had been paid as provided in Section 403.060. The fee shall then be a proper item of costs of the party paying it, recoverable if that party prevails in the action or proceeding. Otherwise, the fee shall be offset against and deducted from the amount, if any, awarded to the party responsible for the fee, if that party prevails in the action or proceeding.
(3) If the fee is not paid within 30 days after service of notice of an order of reclassification, the court on its own motion or the motion of any party may order the case to proceed as a limited civil case, dismiss the action or cross-action without prejudice on the condition that no other action or proceeding on the same matters may be commenced in any other court until the reclassification fee is paid, or take such other action as the court may deem appropriate.
(e) Nothing in this section shall be construed to require the superior court to reclassify an action or proceeding because the judgment to be rendered, as determined at the trial or hearing, is one that might have been rendered in a limited civil case.
(f) In any case where the misclassification is due solely to an excess in the amount of the demand, the excess may be remitted and the action may continue as a limited civil case.
Plain-English Summary
Each party gets its own window to move for reclassification: the plaintiff, cross-complainant, or petitioner within the time to amend the initial pleading, and the defendant or cross-defendant within the time to respond to it. The court may also reclassify a case on its own motion at any time, and filing a reclassification motion does not extend the moving party's own deadline to plead. Within that window, the standard is strict: the court must grant the motion and reclassify the case whenever it is in fact misclassified, regardless of whose fault the error was.
A motion filed after that window closes faces a tougher test -- the court will grant it only if the case really is misclassified and the moving party shows good cause for not seeking reclassification sooner. Fees follow the direction of the change: the party whose pleading pushed the case above the limited civil court's dollar ceiling, or otherwise outside the requirements of § 85, pays the reclassification fee under § 403.060 when a case moves up to unlimited; no fee applies when a case moves down to limited.
Once granted, the case cannot be further prosecuted until any required fee is paid. If it goes unpaid five days after notice of the order, any interested party may pay it instead and recover that amount as a cost of the action; if it remains unpaid 30 days after notice, the court may order the case to proceed as limited civil, dismiss it without prejudice conditioned on no refiling elsewhere until the fee is paid, or take other appropriate action. Two safeguards round the section out: the court is never required to reclassify a case merely because the judgment eventually rendered could have been rendered in a limited civil case, and if the only problem was demanding too much money, the plaintiff may remit the excess and keep the case in limited civil court.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I ask the court to reclassify my case at any point in the lawsuit?
Only within your own deadline to plead, unless you show good cause for filing late -- though the court itself may reclassify a case on its own at any time.
Is the judge required to grant my reclassification motion?
Yes, if it is timely and the case is in fact misclassified, the court must grant it regardless of who was at fault for the original error.
Who pays the reclassification fee?
The party whose pleading pushed the case above the limited civil court's dollar limit pays it when the case moves up to unlimited; no fee applies when a case moves down to limited.
Does a smaller-than-expected verdict mean the case should have been limited civil all along?
No -- § 403.040(e) says the court is not required to reclassify a case just because the eventual judgment could have been rendered in a limited civil case.
Amendment History
Amended by Stats 2001 ch 824 (AB 1700), s 4, eff. 1/1/2002. Added September 7, 1999 (Bill Number: SB 210) (Chapter 344).
Source & verification. Section text is reproduced verbatim from
the Deering's California Codes Annotated / vLex. Enacted by the California Legislature.
Last verified July 28, 2026.
· Official source
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